The Impact of Israel's Unilateral Actions on the Palestinian Environment

The Palestinian environment has been the first victim of Israel's occupation policies and practices. Since 1967, the Israeli planning scheme have focused on exploiting the Palestinian natural resources to serve the Israelis as well as the Israeli colonists who are illegally living in the Palestinian Territory, while ignored the needs of Palestinians who are landowners. These practices of occupation and control used by the Israeli authorities have systematically impeded the development of Palestinians, resulted in the presence of two physical infrastructures and damaged the environment in the process.

The expropriation of Palestinian land for the construction of Israeli colonies, Israeli industrial zones, bypass roads, roadblocks and checkpoints, and the segregation wall has created geographical discontinuity at the lands under the Palestinian control and resulted in a major physical impediment towards achieving sound and sustainable development in the Palestinian Territory The Israeli control over the water resources in the are left the Palestinians with an acute water crisis.